E-mailer Todd agrees with you…
“All natural? Give me a break. AIDS is all natural.
Uranium is all natural. I’ll take artificial any day.
On a biochemical level, all we are tasting are chemicals anyway. For example, the only difference between real sugar and artificial sugar is that two different G Protein pathways are activated. So what’s the big deal?
Don’t worry. You’re still a cool guy. I just wouldn’t want to have dinner with you.”
I think the important point here is that I’m still a cool guy.
I see the “natural/unnatural” issue as a spectrum. A potato is more natural than a Pringle. Corn, though clearly an invented substance, is more natural than Corn Pops. I am not in any way advocating anything as silly as an all-natural diet. I just think that the modern supermarket contains a lot of unhealthy, unnecessary junk mostly designed to attract a kid’s eye and get him to tug on Mommy’s hem whining, “I need that.”
So much of my thinking on this has evolved out of my own parenting experience. When I say “real food is dull in comparison,” that is based on our own efforts to get our kids, both picky eaters, out of the 15th percentile in weight. If you give them chicken that’s not in the form of a finger, they look at you funny.
Maybe it’s them. Either way, I’m still a cool guy.